Catherine's Blog on War

In Chapter One of Regarding the Pain of Others, how does Sontag link the perception of war to other concepts?

War is blinding. One would think that after seeing all of these horrifying photos of war would make us want to fight to stop it. Sontag states that even pacifists give up on doing so because there are still many who want to fight for the glory. Soldiers are blinded and fighting in a war in which they do not know too much about. Persuasion tactics and propaganda influence their decision. They may be too affiliated with one side of the war that they do anything to come out victorious, even if that means killing innocent victims, whose name and story they don’t know. Those in the periphery are also blinded. They are told and persuaded that their side is “good” and the other side is “bad,” without knowing many facts. In Chapter One of Regarding the Pain of Others, Sontag links it with viewing photographs. Prior to viewing the photo we already have biases and favor a particular group. That influences us to judge the photo because of a preexisting view, which gives a negative perception on another party. An example of this in Chapter One was how the photo of the child was viewed in the eyes of the Palestinian and Jewish. Overall, war is blinding to all those watching.